A Christmas Story

Chapter One: Carrie

Christmas had been in the air for weeks now, and you couldn’t miss it if you tried. On every streetlight you’d see vibrant white lights wrapped around the stem. On every park tree you’d see bright ornaments, shivering in the frosty wind and piles upon piles of white, glistening snow. On every child’s face you’d see a smile of anticipation and a twinkle of imagination in their eyes. On every MAC cover ad girls would wear red and green, and their make-up would have that fresh, frost-bitten glow. Yes, Christmas was in the minds and hearts of everyone; everyone, including Carrie Thompson, maybe the most spirited of all...

Upon the seat in a rickety train heading to Toronto sat Carrie, reading her novel. Her long legs were sprawled about carelessly; a knee by her chin, a foot on the opposite chair... The red and green striped legwarmers didn’t hide this fact. Her dress was red and short and had white glitter near the top. Her long, white-blonde waves of hair hung around her face caressingly, touching softly to her pink, flushed cheeks. From her ski-slope nose, her small, candy-pink o-shaped mouth, and her wide, sparkling blue eyes with thick black lashes, Carrie was undoubtedly beautiful. She sat, reading, thinking...

I haven’t seen Greg in so long, her mind raced. Will he be the same? Will his family like me? Will they give me Christmas gifts, or let me decorate their tree? She was a curious sort of person, with wild, pulsing thoughts. Surely they will. I mean, I’m a nice girl! What’s not to like, right? I’ll just have to be on my best behavior and, oh, I should probably take off those legwarmers... and for God’s sake sit properly in my seat... Another thing about Carrie was her ability to realize her flaws, yet not change them. Oh well, she thought, it’s Who I Am. Take it or leave it, right?

She smiled to herself as a little boy in an elf suit waddled by. What a fantastic holiday—so spirited, so fun... Not to mention the gifts everyone gets! A warm glow in her heart emerged, and she felt tingly all over at the prospect of that amazing holiday she’d been waiting for all year...

Christmas... she thought happily to herself. Christ... mas... Her thick eyelashes slowly drifted over her eyes, and she sunk deeper and deeper into sleep...

“Oh!” escaped her lips as the train jolted over a bump. She shot up halfway in her seat—she was very slim and easily bounced—and giggled to herself as she thudded back down. I must have been sleeping for a while, she thought. She felt really out of it.

“We approach Toronto, Ontario in five kilometers,” the static-y voice of the train-driver croaked.

“My gosh!” gasped Carrie. “That’s meee!”

She jumped up and gathered her suitcase. It was lime green and big... for all her clothes and cosmetics. She checked her reflection in her tiny mirror and fluffed her hair a bit—perfect!—before sliding it back in her bag and walking out. Her ruby-red high-heels made a clickety-clack sound on the hard floor of the train. “That’s my stop...” she muttered to remind herself. “Oh, Greg will be so cute! I can’t wait to finally see him again...”

“Toronto, Ontario.” And the doors were slid open.

Greggie-pie, HERE I COME!!!!

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